The Good and Bad of Facebook Pages FBML / iFrame Changes

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Just recently, on March 18th of 2011 (after a short delay), Facebook once again changed the way that page administrators can create content for their pages. Where once you could use Facebook’s custom version of HTML, called FBML (in combination with the Static FBML app), to author page tabs, you’re now forced to use iFrames (and to create an iFrame Application), which completely changes the way pages are built.

Before, anyone with a bit of HTML knowledge could great a great looking Facebook page, where now, Facebook has introduced a new interface on the publishing side to further complicate things.

While that may be a problem for some, there’s a also a lot of good to come out of this, which we’ll talk about shortly.

But first…

New Custom Facebook Pages: The Bad

1. Malicious Pages

They’ve already begun. Malicious developers have injected Facebook pages with code that automatically likes and shares pages, which results in a sort of viral infection that saps the goodwill of Facebook users everywhere.

The first I noticed was a link to a Miley Cyrus “disappointed” video; the second to a teacher with a naked rear-end video.

Hopefully, Facebook can fix this beyond trying to play catch up and delete these applications as they spring up.

There were similar issues with Static FBML, however the iframe application gives developers greater flexibility and hence more opportunity to manipulate the system.

2. New Development Environment

We already talked briefly on this topic, but the part that really bugs us is that iFrames have had to overcome several issues, such as getting rid of the scroll bars. In true Facebook style, nothing is ever super smooth when they launch and many “bugs” can make development difficult…

Is it a problem with our code or theirs? Is it Internet Explorer or Firefox? Is it a “bug” or is this the the way it is going to be? Should we spend all day working on this only to discover Facebook have messed up and the problem will be rectified at their end??

Having to re-create pages from scratch is not great either for anyone who has Static FBML – this is not a pressing issue, but Facebook have not stated how long Static FBML tabs will remain functional.

Lastly, the interface that forces you to create an application, which must then be setup in the developer panel, and then linked to a page is not so good. It adds extra time to every job and additional administration management. We liked the simplicity of adding tabs and pages before this change – you can be sure that less code savvy users (small business DIY web designers) will be even more so.

3. Self-Hosted

This isn’t horrible (in many ways static FBML was the same), but you’ll certainly notice the server strain if you have a popular Facebook page. Self-hosted also means that you have to constantly monitor your pages for signs of strain and improper formatting. Your Facebook page data and application will need to be hosted on a server which will incur a small annual fee (unless of course you’re massively popular in which case increase bandwidth is required and with that comes higher hosting charges).

Your page will be subject to the usual Internet Explorer problems….alas if web designers across the globe had one wish granted it would be to have adheared to browser standards!

New Faceook Pages : The Good

1. More Control / Interactivity

Now that FBML is out of the way, Facebook developers have more control over the content they place in a page. With an iFrame, you can can create better looking designs  and finally inject a bit of life into your page.

The downside to this is that you’ll have to host the page yourself, but the benefit to that is you don’t have to wait for Facebook to fix something should a bug or error occur.

A lot of Facebook caching issues are now no longer an issue as updates will be automatic.

Due to using iFrames virtually anything you can do on a website is possible!

2. Better Analytics

Now that Facebook lets you host the content, you can install more of the social graph API to better track tab visitors. You can also use tools like Google Analytics to help you get a better idea of how your page (tab) is faring.

Right now, the jury is still out on how these changes will impact the Facebook developer community, but once the initial complaints die down, We predict that we’ll see better looking and more active Facebook pages than ever before. For once, Facebook is relinquishing control, which we find to be a very good thing!

What are your thoughts on the new way of creating a custom Facebook page?

[Photo from Flickr by _Max-B]

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